Unit idea
Using kidspiration, teach students facts about plants and the process of jot notes. Enhance your learning by growing plants. Document how they grow by taking pictures. Insert into a powerpoint.
http://www.seedsavers.org/
Seed Savers is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds.
Soak a paper towel and add bean seeds that have been soaking for at least an hour.
Fold construction paper in half. Cut in window. Tape in baggie with seeds. Decorate. Watch grow!
Inside A Seed:
Students will look inside seeds to discover the beginning of a plant, and will discuss elements that plants need to grow. Objectives:
Students will look inside a seed to discover the beginning of a plant
Students will discuss elements that are important for plants to grow – air, water, food
Materials:
external image image_insideseed.jpg
lima beans; soak in water overnight
magnifying glasses
illustration of lima bean with baby plant inside
divide children into cooperative groups, if desired
Part 2 – ziploc bags, wet paper towels
Lesson Plan: Motivation: How does a plant begin? Ask students for thoughts and predictions. How does a seed turn into a plant? Tell them that scientists make predictions and study things to find answers to their questions. Today you are going to be a scientist. Activity: Give each student a seed, lima bean, that has been soaked in water so it is easier to open. Show them how to open the seeds carefully. (They fall apart, so you must be gentle!) Ask students to see if they can find out how a seed turns into a plant. After looking on their own, have them help friends find out why. Have them talk about it with their groups as they look. Make sure every child sees a baby plant. Closure: Come back to the carpet and have students discuss their conclusions. Show the illustration of the parts of a seed including the baby plant, seed coat, and plant food. Extending the Activity: Now that we know where a plant begins, can it grow where we left it? What does it need to grow? What are some things that you need to grow? Water, food, sunlight – we don’t know for sure, so we are going to be scientists again to find the answer to our questions. Put beans in ziploc bags to test the following conditions:
no water (no wet paper towel)
no light (cover in black, put in closet)
no food (take seed apart–baby plant w/o bean)
optional: no air (close ziploc bag)
Check bags periodically to see what happens and discuss results.
We wet the cotton balls and placed one in each finger of the glove.
He has placed the seeds on the cotton balls inside the glove. Each finger is labeled with the name of the seeds we “planted”—radish, tomato, pumpkin, pepper, and marigold.
The radish seeds sprouted first, but the others soon followed.
P
In the example pictured above, we used construction paper instead of paper plates. We cut a pumpkin shape from 2 pieces of construction paper, then cut eyes and a nose from construction paper. Some students wanted to draw the features instead of cutting paper for it. The orange pieces of the jack-o-lantern were stapled together with an opening on the side.When I’ve done this activity in the past, students coloured the paper plates and and drew on the face. You can also use orange paint. I’ve also heard of orange plates being available around Halloween, so that might be an option, too, if you can find them in stores.
Trees (and Other Plants) - Kindergarten (this takes you to a wiki page with links and activities suitable for kindergarten and up; scroll down once on the page for the links)
Plant Projects
Unit idea
Using kidspiration, teach students facts about plants and the process of jot notes. Enhance your learning by growing plants. Document how they grow by taking pictures. Insert into a powerpoint.
http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/esd/pdfs/newsletter_v3n1.pdf
Parkland Elementary School Garden Project
http://www.seedsavers.org/
Seed Savers is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds.
Inside A Seed:
Students will look inside seeds to discover the beginning of a plant, and will discuss elements that plants need to grow. Objectives:- Students will look inside a seed to discover the beginning of a plant
- Students will discuss elements that are important for plants to grow – air, water, food
Materials:- lima beans; soak in water overnight
- magnifying glasses
- illustration of lima bean with baby plant inside
- divide children into cooperative groups, if desired
- Part 2 – ziploc bags, wet paper towels
Lesson Plan: Motivation: How does a plant begin? Ask students for thoughts and predictions. How does a seed turn into a plant? Tell them that scientists make predictions and study things to find answers to their questions. Today you are going to be a scientist. Activity: Give each student a seed, lima bean, that has been soaked in water so it is easier to open. Show them how to open the seeds carefully. (They fall apart, so you must be gentle!) Ask students to see if they can find out how a seed turns into a plant. After looking on their own, have them help friends find out why. Have them talk about it with their groups as they look. Make sure every child sees a baby plant. Closure: Come back to the carpet and have students discuss their conclusions. Show the illustration of the parts of a seed including the baby plant, seed coat, and plant food. Extending the Activity: Now that we know where a plant begins, can it grow where we left it? What does it need to grow? What are some things that you need to grow? Water, food, sunlight – we don’t know for sure, so we are going to be scientists again to find the answer to our questions. Put beans in ziploc bags to test the following conditions:- no water (no wet paper towel)
- no light (cover in black, put in closet)
- no food (take seed apart–baby plant w/o bean)
- optional: no air (close ziploc bag)
Check bags periodically to see what happens and discuss results.Plants we eat ~ seeds (sunflower), stems (celery) , roots (carrots), leaves (lettuce)
Pumpkin Life Cycle Sequencing Printable
Trees (and Other Plants) - Kindergarten (this takes you to a wiki page with links and activities suitable for kindergarten and up; scroll down once on the page for the links)